Wiki
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Release Date
22 June 1981
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Length
10 tracks
High 'n' Dry is the second studio album by British band Def Leppard, released on July 11, 1981 (see 1981 in music) and the last studio album by the band to feature original co-lead guitarist Pete Willis, who was fired in 1982 for excessive alcohol consumption. Its title song "High 'n' Dry" made #33 on VH1's 40 Greatest Metal Songs .
1984 reissue
Due to the success of Pyromania, High 'n' Dry was reissued on 31 May 1984 with two bonus tracks:
"Bringin' On the Heartbreak (remix)", essentially the same recording with a few synthesizer overdubs. The remix was released in 1984 as a single, peaking at #61 in the UK charts.
"Me & My Wine (remix)", a remixed version of a 1981 B-side. Its video parodied The Young Ones with band members playing the roles.
Videos for both were made, featuring Phil Collen (who was not in the band at the time of the music's recording). Both bonuses were deleted from the mid-1990s re-releases of the album.
Track listing
Side one
# Title Writer(s) Length
1. "Let It Go" Joe Elliott, Pete Willis, Steve Clark 4:43
2. "Another Hit and Run" Elliott, Rick Savage 4:59
3. "High 'n' Dry (Saturday Night)" Elliott, Clark, Savage 3:27
4. "Bringin' On the Heartbreak" Elliott, Willis, Clark 4:34
5. "Switch 625" Clark 3:03
Side two
# Title Writer(s) Length
1. "You Got Me Runnin'" Elliott, Willis, Clark 4:23
2. "Lady Strange" Elliott, Willis, Clark, Rick Allen 4:39
3. "On Through the Night" Elliott, Clark, Savage 5:06
4. "Mirror, Mirror (Look into My Eyes)" Elliott, Clark, Savage 4:08
5. "No No No" Elliott, Willis, Savage 3:13
Bonus tracks on post-1984 reissues
# Title Writer(s) Length
1. "Bringin' On the Heartbreak" (Remix) Elliott, Willis, Clark 4:34
2. "Me & My Wine" (Remix) Elliott, Willis, Clark, Savage, Allen 3:40
Notes
On vinyl and cassette releases, "Me & My Wine" (Remix) is added to the end of side one, while "Bringin' On the Heartbreak" (Remix) leads off side two. On CD releases, "Bringin' On the Heartbreak" (Remix) and "Me & My Wine" (Remix) follow "No No No".
On the original vinyl LP, the final track "No No No" ended with the word "No" screamed continually into the record's run-out groove.
Although the track "Lady Strange" makes its studio debut on High 'n' Dry, the band had played it live as early as 1980 at the Reading Festival, but with slightly different song structures and lyrics. Another fact about this song was it (along with "Me & My Wine" from the remix) are the only Def Leppard songs with writing credited to Rick Allen until the 1991 album "Adrenalize", where he co-wrote "I Wanna Touch U".
In the liner notes for the original CD version of High 'n' Dry, issued in the late 1980s, there is a "special thanks" aimed directly to Phil Collen, who wasn't in Def Leppard when the album was originally recorded, and did not join until after Pete Willis was fired from the band on July 11, 1982.
Personnel
Joe Elliott – lead vocals
Pete Willis – guitar, backing vocals
Steve Clark – guitar, backing vocals
Rick Savage – bass, backing vocals
Rick Allen – drums, backing vocals
Phil Collen - keyboards on reissues
Production
Robert John "Mutt" Lange – producer
Mike Shipley – engineer
Hipgnosis – cover design
Charts
Album
Billboard (North America)
Year Chart Position
1981 Pop Albums 38
1983 The Billboard 200 72
Singles
Billboard (North America)
Year Single Chart Position
1981 "Let It Go" Mainstream Rock 34
1984 "Bringin' On the Heartbreak" The Billboard Hot 100 61
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